Why do the All Blacks need a coach when 76% of farmers don't?: A guide for farmers engaging consultants

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to identify the systems and/ or tools top farmers use to get the best value from their professional advisors. “Why do the All Blacks need a coach” has always been my standard answer when someone asked me why I used a farm advisor. The seed for my research came from an article reprinted in my local newspaper, the Westport News (Westport News 2015). For many years I have admired how the best athletes in the world have the intelligence to identify opportunities for improving their own performance, and seek out advice that endeavours to achieve better personal performance. The most inspiring business leaders (Welch, 2001) have also identified they have an opportunity for enhancing performance through the use of mentors, and skill enhancing tuition. DairyNZ has proven the opportunity for improvement of our Dairy Industry by funding a programme called Dairy Push (DairyNZ, 2011). It started in 2007 and is still continuing due to its success. This programme teamed farmers with farm consultants in the South Waikato area. The engaged farmers achieved $500/ha higher operating profit than the district average (DairyNZ, 2014).